Loving Joseph Solomon
by ParisNeverEnded
Summary: When Zach turns up at Gallagher in OGSPY he goes to Rachel and they both admit their feelings for one Joseph Solomon


Loving Joseph Solomon

_When Zach turns up at Gallagher in OGSPY he goes to Rachel and they both admit their feelings for one Joseph Solomon_

**A/N This actually came to me in a dream, yeah I have weird dreams as my other story The Apple Woman was influenced because of a dream too. It's a one shot this time but I'd love to write some more Zach/Rachel scenes.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Definitly not. **

"You love Joe."

It wasn't a question, merely a statement.

"I-"

Despite knowing that it was useless, I tried to protest but Zachary Goode looked at me with knowing eyes.  
"It's true." He said simply.

We were standing in my Office at 3 in the morning, me dressed in nothing more than silk( and freezing my butt off because of it!) and Zach in grotty jeans and a t-shirt that hadn't looked like it'd been washed in days.

"I-" I started again. "Zach, I take it you're not here to discuss the fact I love Joe." I told him, wrapping my thin dressing gown tighter around my body. I hadn't slept well in months, not since this whole fiasco with Joe had started and I was feeling groggy.

"No." Zach stared me in the eye. "I'm here because _I _love Joe." He whispered almost incomprehensibly.

I stared back at Zachary Goode and saw how vulnerable he looked, I realised I was looking at him not as a Blackthorne student or my daughter's boyfriend but as a boy who didn't have a mother. I put my hand tentatively to his face and his gaze instantly dropped to the ground, but he didn't pull away at the physical contact.

"Zach, Joe once told me, when I was going through a very painful period in my life that it's okay not to be strong all the time, especially amongst family." I gave him a weak smile and he briefly looked up. "And most importantly it's okay to cry."

"Yeah well I don't care what Joe says!" he practically shouted.

He pulled away from my hand and shoved both of his hands in his pockets, looking down at the carpet.

My heart broke.

"Yeah Zach you do." I said kindly. "You look at Joe as a father and he looks at you as a son. He loves you. And now that that man you love is gone, it's okay to cry."

Zach gently looked up, his eyes watery but refusing to cry (Oh he was so much like Joe).

"I hate my Mom." Was his only response.

And then the tears fell, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly as Joseph Solomon had done to me on countless occasions.

"She's taken the one person I love away." He spat angrily, through his sobs/

I soothed his hair gently. "Listen to me Zach. We're going to find Joe and bring him home."

"Don't Lie."

He went to break my embrace but I held on tightly, he may have been a lot heavier than me but I had over 20 years of experience to get him to stay.

"I promise you, Joe will come home...he has to." I whispered the final three words.

Nobody loved Joseph Solomon quite as much as we did, and neither of us knew what we would do if he really was gone. We couldn't think like that.

For me it would've been like losing a husband all over again, with nobody this time to comfort me.

For Zach it would've been like being orphaned with no one to love him and to protect him.

We couldn't afford to lose the man we both loved to deeply.

After a while he stopped crying but neither of us pulled away.

"You know, I always wished Joe was my father."

"Zach-" I warned, I knew Zach secretly knew Joe wasn't his father, I just didn't want him to keep believing it, it wasn;t healthy.

"No. I know he isn't my actual Dad." He looked at me with a sad smile and gently pulled away. "As weird as it sounds the day he told me that he loved me, was one of the best days of my life."

I smiled. "It was one of Joe's too."

"What?" He looked up at me puzzled, if trying to register something. "You two talk about me?"

I laughed gently. "We kind of have too when you're dating my daughter." I smirked and raised an eyebrow and was happy when Zach grinned back at me.

"Don't look at me like that!" He protested. "Abby and Joe have both given me serious threats if I mess over Cammie. Which I won't ever!" He added when I stared at him even more sternly.

I had to stifle back another laugh. "My sister did what-?" I asked actually genuinely interested.

Zach blushed briefly. "She said she'd castrate me if I even hinted at breaking up with Cammie."

"And rightly so." I stared at Zach and couldn't hold back my laughter anymore, he looked like a dear caught in headlights. "You honestly didn't know what you were getting yourself when you started dating Cammie did you?" I teased.

He only smiled and whispered. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

I ruffled his hair lovingly and he instantly shook his hair in an effort to mess it all up again. Gosh he was such a boy, not to mention so much like Joe.

"Zach you'll never know how much like Joe you are." I laughed.

And he smiled. He fully smiled. He'd been living in a world of terror for so long, with nobody to look after to him, no real parents to guide him and that comment about Joe meant the world to him. We stood there for a while, before I realised I hadn't even asked him why he was here at 3 in the morning. I shook my head and stared at him expectantly, he registered the look on my face quickly and started to recount everything.

After he was done I nodded and told him. "Now stay in my Office whilst I get changed."

When I returned, to find my Office deserted the only thing I could think of was "Oh he was so Joseph Solomon's son". I should've known I shouldn't have trusted him to stay there. Rolling my eyes I went out in search of him, knowing really there was only one place he could be.

_Fin. _


End file.
